§ Mr. McFallTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the annual budget for each of the Scottish environmentally sensitive areas, the number of agreements approved to date in each environmentally sensitive area and the number remaining to be processed; and if he expects the budget to be fully spent in 1995–96. [34842]
§ Mr. Raymond S. RobertsonFinancial provision for the environmentally sensitive areas scheme as a whole in Scotland for 1995–96 is £5.7 million. Funds are not allocated to individual environmentally sensitive areas. The number of plans approved in each area and the number under consideration as at the end of May are set out in the table:
Number of ESA plans approved Number of ESA plans under consideration Breadalbane 177 17 Loch Lomond 68 6 Stewartry 240 24 Central Borders (formerly Whitelaw and Eildon) 35 10 Machair of the Uists and Benbecula Barra and Vatersay 612 52 Central Southern Uplands 115 34 Western Southern Uplands 51 32 Cairngorms Straths 14 30 Argyll Islands 55 36 Shetland Islands 14 13 Total 1,381 254 It is too early to say whether the budget for 1995–96 will be fully utilised.
§ Mr. McFallTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the number of staff hours taken up in assessing whether applications breach the financial limits on annual payments in environmentally sensitive areas, indicating how much time elapses, on average, between receipt of environmentally sensitive area applications and their approval. [34844]
§ Mr. RobertsonThere is an automatic computer check on the extent to which applications comply with the specified financial limits but this is only one of many aspects covered in the assessment process and it is not possible to estimate how much time is devoted to any single part of the process. The average period of time between receipt of an acceptable application and the issue of an offer of agreement is 111 days.